'When the Well Runs Dry' Insights

"John of the Cross says:

In matters pertaining to the soul, it is best for you, so as to be on the safe side, to have attachment to nothing and desire for nothing, and to have true and complete attachment for him who is your proper guide, for to do otherwise would be not to desire a guide. And when one guide suffices, and you have one who suits you, all others are either superfluous or harmful.

When John wrote this, he had in mind the spiritual director; books were still a relative rarity and few possessed the art of reading. In our day, when we are bombarded by books and articles on every aspect of spirituality, his advice applies equally well to the guidance we seek in spiritual reading. Too much and too scattered reading, like too many directors, will be either 'superfluous or harmful' for spiritual growth. The abundance of spiritual resources available to us today is indeed a blessing, provided only that we can select wisely those which help us to know the Lord. It is good to sample the riches in the early years of our prayer life; but once we discover what nourishes us, we must learn to sacrifice breadth for depth. Otherwise we will merely suffer from spiritual indigestion, and perhaps die of malnutrition!" -Thomas H. Green, S.J.; 'When the Well Runs Dry - Prayer Beyond the Beginnings'; pgs. 23-24